Wednesday, 29 May 2013

To create the tag background I started by using a Size 12 Black Tag from Ranger then mirroring a slightly smaller tag using the "Whitewash Cardstock" from the Base Coat Collection. I then added some stamping by using the Clear Flutter Stamp using Archival Ink (Jet Black).

I then layered a strip from the reverse side of the "Whitewash Cardstock" onto the inner tag. Next I die cut hearts using a Sizzix die, again using the "Whitewash Cardstock" and adhered with 3d foam to add some dimension.

Monday, 20 May 2013

Goooodly Morning Snazzyfans and a very happy Monday to you all. This month us teamies have been playing with the Gallerie Wrap canvas making kit. To say I was a smidgey bit dreading making my canvas is an understatement... for you see, I am useless with a ruler and measuring is not my strong point. However, I am happy to report that putting together my canvas was easy-peasy! There is a video on YouTube that does a step by step, so I watched a bit of that (ok, so I watched it all) and then set about constructing my creation. I set off by using Distress Paints to colour the canvas sheet.

The colours I used are Antique Linen, Broken China, Salty Ocean and a smidge of Seedless Preserves. The base of the canvas sheet was coloured using the first two colours, mixing them together on the canvas using water and Cut & Dry foam. Once I had dried this layer, I set about making some cool drippage down the canvas sheet, starting with a paintbrush full of Salty Ocean and spritzing it with water. Once dried, I used Seedless Preserves in the same way... and finally, once that was dry, I lightened it slightly with the Antique Linen. Whilst the canvas was off the frame, I used a Prima stencil from my stash (although Snazzy's do have some delish ones too...) and a mix of Studio 490 Embossing Paste and Puff Paint, levelling the paste on to start with and then using my spatula to add peaks and whirls to the stencilled paste... this means it has a nice bumpy top for added texture. The above pic is of the stencilled Hollyhocks with added smidges of gilding wax... and this photo is after I added some shading using a Stabilo All pencil... I love the way that the black is softened but makes the image pop a bit more.

Once this was all set and done, I used Jet Black Archival Ink to add some stamping... I used the gorgeous dotty stamp from Finnabair range for Prima - also available at Snazzy's HERE. Always remember to heat set Archival ink as it is oil based and likes to feel the heat... plus, you don't want any smudgey accidents.

Next I set about constructing my canvas. Following the step by step instructions on the video, adding the glue with the kit and then hammering (I do love an excuse to hammer!) the little pins in to hold it together, my canvas was ready! It was that easy! Hurrah! Anyways, I had a bit of a mess goin on on the edges - basically, all the drippage looked a bit ugly, so I popped some Black Gesso onto my craft sheet and pounced Cut & Dry into it, then onto the edges of the canvas, bringing a bit of the gesso onto the front edges to give the canvas a frame.

Of course, no self respecting canvas of mine is replete without the addition of paper flowers... these started life as plain old cream ones - I just used Sail Boat Blue Colorwash and Seedless Preserves Distress Stain to colour them... adding ickle papre roses to the centres and then spritzing them with a bit of Black Marble Dylusions sprays and Egyptian Blue Cosmic Shimmer for added bling. I added on some of the gorgeous metal embellies from Finnabair's Sunrise Sunset range for Prima... and a few Alpha Part letters to make the sentiment... and voila, one canvas. To be honest, I am really chuffed that I made this right from scratch... kind of makes it a bit more special, if you know what I mean :O))

Please do scroll on down to see the utterly AWESOME creations for the rest of the teamies... and also click HERE to go to the right post to be in with a chance of winning a prize this month. As ever, thanks for looking.... TTFN!

Thursday, 16 May 2013

Featuring Gallerie Wrap Canvas Kit

Hello, hello dear Snazzys visitors, I am here to show you the second project I created with the awesome Gallerie Wrap Canvas....

This time I wanted to make something in more neutral tones. But before I tell you how I went about putting this together, I am going to let you in on a little secret: When the DT first heard we were going to work with this kit, we were all a bit dismayed... What is the point of working with a canvas that you have to put together your self, - help!!! Well let me tell you, - all of us have totally changed our minds, these kits are awesome! They are easy and quick to put together, Gillian has posted a link to a video on how to do it here and the fact that they are flat at first make them fantastic to stamp and layer on, and the quality of the canvas is superb and all pre prepped, no need to Gesso. This kit has probably been one of my most favourite things to work with, which is saying a lot, because we always get super stuff to play with. Anyway, enough of the waffle and onto the project: I started with three colours of Distress Paints, Antique Linen, Bundled Sage and Frayed Burlap. I layered on a good layer of paint, spritzt a bit with water and then dried with my heat gun. I then played around with some Tim Holtz Tissue Tape and Prima Washi Tapes left over from previous DT projects. I also used some stencils and masks from my stash, but Snazzys has a great selection!. Next came various background stamps and the main stamp, (La Blanche) stamped on Tissue Paper, just to make sure it would land up exactly where I wanted it... I glued that onto the canvas and dabbed some Distress Inks over and around it.

I made a cluster from various bits and pieces and adhered it with Gel Medium. Snazzys has a great selection of metal embellishments including some fantastic Steampunk ones. I also added some Prima Flowers. I masked the main image with a damp baby wipe and some kitchen roll. I then painted the cluster with Gesso and when that was dry took a deep breath and spritzt it with Dylusions Sprays in Melted Chocolate and Black Marble. Oops, a bit dark, so White Linen came to the rescue... I also rubbed some Treasure Gold over the flowers.

Next came some of the wonderful new Tim Holtz Remnant Rubs. At this point I put my canvas together and added the finishing touches afterwards. I added some crackle to the corners, did some more background stamping and added the sentiment, (a Tim Holtz stamp which I cut into strips and stamped on to some scraps of left over Prima Tea Thyme paper). A bit of shading around the words, and voila, project complete.

Here are a few close ups still:

Hope I have given you a wee bit of inspiration, the kit has enough stuff to put together two canvasses and remember, to be in with a chance to win a kit, leave a comment HERE

Don't forget to come back on Monday when the wonderful Hels will show her take on the kit, - can't wait to see what she will do with it!!

Monday, 13 May 2013

Gallerie Wrap Canvas Kit

Hello, hello dear Snazzys visitors, thank you for dropping by! Today I am sharing the next installment of the Gallerie Wrap Canvas kit that the Design Team received to play with. If you haven't seen the totally cool and funky examples of my team mates yet, make sure to scroll down. Each and every one of them demonstrates just how many possibilities this kit has to offer and as the others have shown so aptly already, the brilliant thing with these canvases is that you put them together yourself, so you can keep them flat as long as you are working on them, brilliant for stamping and many other techniques. If you want to see a video of how to put it together, just click HERE to find a link straight to the video and if you want to have a chance to win a kit, leave a comment there too.

Alright, now to my Mixed media version of the canvas:

I have a few step by step photos, to show how I went about it:

I started by marking off with a pencil, roughly where I thought the wooden slats for the frame would be placed and then layered on some scraps of old book pages with multi medium. Next I added some texture paste through a stencil from my stash. I wanted this canvas to be quite soft and feminine, so I chose a rather "frilly" Crafters Workshop stencil, it's the Damask one.

As you can see, in places I went right over the papers, here is a close up:

In the center of my canvas (more or less) a adhered a vintage image I had saved on my computer, slightly digitally altered to suit what I had in mind for this canvas and then started to play with some of the new Tim Holtz Distress paints (These are available from Snazzys, even though they are not yet on the website). I also added some bits of the top layer of a paper serviette around the main image, painting over and around it to blend it in with the background. Here you can see some of the first stages:

Well after that I got so caught up in the process that I forgot to take step by step photos I'm afraid to say. I basically added more layers of paint, background stamps, some Tim Holtz Tissue Tape, some hand painted flowers and finally embellished with some fussy cut butterflies from the Tim Holtz Papillon set and a heart embellishment from my stash. Finally I added some Treasure Gold to the raised bits. The sentiment was first computer generated and then I hand drew over it and added shadows with a gold pen.

Here are some close up pictures still:

Well, hope you like this project, I certainly had loads of fun creating it!!

I started by stamping a line of bunting using the 'bags of bunting' dylusions stamps, I masked them all off then started spraying the canvas with a mix of 'lemon zest', 'london blue' and 'postbox red' dylusions ink sprays knowing that being primary colours I would get some green, orange & purple tones coming through too.

When the whole canvas was covered I felt it to be a wee bit bright {i'm not good with very bright colours} so I dulled them back with the new 'white linen' dylusions ink spray.

Next I used more stamps 'inbetweenies' and 'basic backgrounds' to build up my layers, I stamped in 'vermillion' & 'manganese blue' archival ink.

I stamped 3 flowers from the Wendy Vecchi 'art from the heart' stamp set using 'cherry pie' & 'funky fuchsia' dylusions sprays for the heads and 'cut grass' & 'dirty martini' dylusions sprays for the stems and leaves by putting a bit of each spray on the craft mat and stamping into it, I wasn't sure if this was gonna work but it came out better than expected, I did pre-ink the stamp with versamark as wasn't sure how the spray would be on the rubber.

I used a water brush to pull the colour across the whole image.

I also used the same colours and water brush to fill in the bunting.

I printed out the quote on my computer, and mounted it to the canvas with foam tape.

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Astrid will be along on Monday with more canvas creativity, Thanks for taking the time to visit, I truly appreciate it. And don't forget 1 lucky person can win a little prize just for leaving a comment HERE.. after you've left me a comment obviously lol